From The Ashes (The Ministry of Curiosities #6)(87)

He scooped me round the waist and drew me against his body. I snuggled into him, my head beneath his chin and listened to the steady throb of his blood through his veins. "It was your anger that gave me hope that I could salvage something from the mess I created."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you remember leaving Barts Hospital after meeting Dr. Bell for the first time?"

"Not really."

"You were outraged with me for being nice to you. If you hadn't been angry, if you'd been indifferent, I would have known there was little hope for us."

I circled my arms around his waist. "It's fortunate that I don't know how to hide my emotions, then."

He laughed softly. "We balance one another in that regard."

"We work well together." I drew back to look at him. "Speaking of which…about the ministry leadership… are you going to insist you be reinstated?"

"Do you want me to?"

"It's part of you, Lincoln. You really are the best person to be leader. Think of the alternative."

He grunted. "Imagine Gillingham in charge."

"No thank you. So you'll tell them?"

He nodded. "But not today. Perhaps not tomorrow either."

I stroked his forehead near the bruise. "Good. You need to rest. Perhaps in the new year, if you're feeling ready."

He tipped his head back against the window frame. "I can't avoid the ministry anyway. I'm also now on the committee."

"You're Eastbrooke's heir?"

"As far as I know." He drew my hand to his lips and kissed my fingers gently. "It doesn't feel right."

"He thought of you as his son."

"I saw little evidence of that."

"Perhaps he had difficulty expressing himself." Of all people, Lincoln should understand that. "He was involved in a disastrous military campaign in Bhutan, many years ago. That affected him, and led him to search for a remedy for death. Perhaps it affected his ability to love you, too."

"Perhaps."

"He wanted me to tell you that he's sorry. He wants your forgiveness."

He twined his fingers with mine and gently lay our hands over his steadily beating heart. He kissed the top of my head. "I forgive him for his lack of affection for me, but I can't forgive him for trying to kill you."

It was, perhaps, too much to ask. I couldn't forgive the general for the lives he'd taken, and for almost taking Lincoln's, even if the explosion had been an accident.

We sat together on the window seat, the sun warming us, Lincoln's arms around me and my head on his shoulder. I thought about the past, and our future together, and I assumed he was doing the same, but after a while his breathing became even and deep. He'd fallen asleep.

I smiled. Not every woman could make the most active man in England relaxed enough to fall asleep with her. Only me.



Cook managed to present a Christmas feast like I'd never experienced. Even Lady Vickers was impressed, although that quickly passed when she realized the entire household was going to eat together in the dining room, not including Bella who had the day off to spend with her parents.

"How did you manage all this without a kitchen?" I asked Cook, helping myself to potatoes. "You're a miracle worker."

He admired with pride the spread of oysters, bouillon, potatoes, sweetbread patés, peas, roast turkey with cranberry sauce, and a salad of cold potatoes, beets and celery. "A good cook ain't worth his salt if he let Christmas by without setting a feast on the table for his family."

"You think of us as your family?"

He blushed and dipped his head. "With two annoying brothers."

Seth and Gus beamed at one another across the table.

Lady Vickers' lips pinched. "If you don't put a stop to this, your servants will swindle you blind, Mr. Fitzroy."

"Mother!" Seth stabbed a potato. "No one asked your opinion."

"Do you think they would dare?" I said to Lady Vickers.

She glanced at Lincoln, sitting beside me. "Perhaps you'll be the exception."

"Have you forgotten George so quickly?" Seth asked. "My mother's lover," he said out of the side of his mouth to Alice. "Also our footman."

"Husband," Lady Vickers snapped. "We married in America. And no, I haven't forgotten him. He was a dear fellow, and not at all typical for a servant."

"How decent of you to exclude him from your sweeping judgment." Seth and his mother glared at one another. Their relationship had turned frostier since Alice's arrival. Seth had given our new guest a great deal of his attention, much to Lady Vickers' disapproval. According to her, her son's first marriage ought to be for advancement or money, not for love. Seth disagreed.

Alice didn't seem aware of the fuss at all. She carried herself serenely and effortlessly, more ladylike than Lady Vickers.

"These potatoes are delicious," she said to Cook, as if she hadn't noticed the tug of wills between mother and son.

"A la maitre d'hotel," Cook said with an effortless French accent.

Gus screwed his nose up at the potato on his fork. "What's wrong with English potatoes?"